NY Times - "Crisis Imperils Liberal Benefits Long Expected by Europeans"

[TomCADem]

I think this article over simplifies the problems faced by Europe, which are due in no small part to the premature adoption of a single currency. Republicans, of course, would simply propose privitizing social security and doing away with all pensions. Perhaps the middle ground is an increase in taxes coupled with a phased increase in retirement ages that matches the increase in longevity in order to preserve social security and pensions, rather than relying on the whims of the market.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/world/europe/23europe.html?hp

Europeans have benefited from low military spending, protected by NATO and the American nuclear umbrella. They have also translated higher taxes into a cradle-to-grave safety net. “The Europe that protects” is a slogan of the European Union.

* * *
Figures show the severity of the problem. Gross public social expenditures in the European Union increased from 16 percent of gross domestic product in 1980 to 21 percent in 2005, compared with 15.9 percent in the United States. In France, the figure now is 31 percent, the highest in Europe, with state pensions making up more than 44 percent of the total and health care, 30 percent.

The challenge is particularly daunting in France, which has done less to reduce the state’s obligations than some of its neighbors. In Sweden and Switzerland, 7 of 10 people work past 50. In France, only half do. The legal retirement age in France is 60, while Germany recently raised it to 67 for those born after 1963.

With the retirement of the baby boomers, the number of pensioners will rise 47 percent in France between now and 2050, while the number under 60 will remain stagnant. The French call it “du baby boom au papy boom,” and the costs, if unchanged, are unsustainable. The French state pension system today is running a deficit of 11 billion euros, or about $13.8 billion; by 2050, it will be 103 billion euros, or $129.5 billion, about 2.6 percent of projected economic output.

[Nikki Stone1]

1. This is what Greece was all about: unraveling the European socialist protections

Goldman Sachs is the economic hit company used to wage economic warfare and siphon money to a few transnational hands....mark my words. The public sector in Europe will be sucked dry eventually.

[aquart]

2. And this skewed crap is why I no longer read the NYT.

[closeupready]

3. Yes, it's a very not subtle way of saying the liberals are at fault.

When in fact it's the conservatives and their greed that have gotten us where we are today.

[Go2Peace]

4. The masters continue the meme: Decency is "UNSUSTAINABLE", slavery is NECESSARY

and naivety reigns, even in liberal communities in the US. We should be in solidarity with Europe.

It's bullshit that a respectable economy is unsustainable. It is the unemployment brought about by artificial globalistic competition that is destroying sustainable European economies. And our landlords in the US have had a huge part in bringing this to where it is.

[Bonobo]

5. At least they expect it.

Americans long ago gave up any reasonable expectations that they would be treated decently, that there was someone even slightly holding up their side of the social contract.

[OHdem10]

6. NYT is looking out for our elites. who naturally do not want to pay

one penny of additional taxes. Creating the caste system
of the past in this country is not a problem for the elites.

A society composed of Small Group of Mega Rich at the top
Small Group of Rich
Diminishing Middle Class
Medium sized group of WorkingPOOR
Huge Underclass composed of Whites, Blacks
and Hispanics.

Remember this has been the story of our Nation. It was FDR
who gave us a Middle Class with those unspeakable social
programs.

There is more to European Story but leave it to NYT to
accept the GOP's interpretation.

[JDPriestly]

7. The solution is to tax imports and drop these free market trade agreements.

We need jobs here. Jobs produce incomes that produce taxes. Without jobs, no incomes, nothing to tax. So we need to tax imports. We aren't exporting as much as we import anyway. So what do we have to lose?